Real Gone
by Dr. ET
Summary: The story on how Mater became a hero, after an adventure with Lightning and a group of secret spies.
1. Subtly Annoyed

"Okay, everyone! Thanks for coming! See you all next time! Yeah, I owe you a call…okay!" Lightning McQueen said, slowly taking backwards steps into his headquarters.

Amidst the numerous photographers taking, well, photographs of him, Lightning managed to keep smiling and not have to wince more than once.

"Wait! One more! Hold up the trophy!" multiple photographers shouted.

"Sorry, Lightning's gotta…um, do something else now. Bye folks!" Sally said suddenly butting in and saving McQueen from blindness.

"Wait!" some cars shouted. But Sally had already shut the door.

"Saved you again- you owe me!" she said playfully.

Lightning laughed leading to a silence afterwards.

He and Sally's eyes locked unto each other and the silence went deeper…and deeper…

They slowly leaned in-

"McQueen and Sally!" a voice suddenly cut in.

"Don't worry, Mater. We know the rest." Lightning turned backwards closing his eyes slightly.

Mater chuckled, driving toward them.

"I should go. Hotels don't run themselves." Sally said, quietly leaving the room.

"Yeah, you go." Lightning tittered, facing Mater a little.

And Sally took off through the back door.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the museum?" Lightning questioned.

"Well, I was gonna stay and do my job, but then got tired and I couldn't talk properly, and I askt to be excused and I came here, and I saw you had a fresh can of fuel and I drank it all and then I found this real nifty trophy and accidentlee broke it, then I slipped on a welcome mat and…" Mater slurred.

"W-w-wait, what did you say?" Lightning shortened Mater's possibly super-long sentence.

"I slipped on the welcome mat. You maybe shouldn't put it in fron' of the place to go in."

"No-before that." The red car reacted as fast as his name.

"Oh. I dranked all the fuel and broke some trophy." Mater said quickly.

"You…you…"

Mater backed away a little. "Uh, oh! Took at the lime, I should be goin'!"

"Mater!" Lightning began chasing Mater around in the small room going around in circles with Mater laughing his tow cable off.

But just as the chase went into its 50th turn, Mater felt a brush against his side view mirror. You could almost call it a bump.

"*gasp* Hey!" Mater stopped.

"What?" Lightning stopped too, although with intentions of throwing surprise attack on his best friend.

"Did you see that?" Mater jumped.

"Uh…no. No I didn't." Lightning turned around and examined what was behind him.

"There was a…uh, actually I didn't see anything- but sumthin' was there!" Mater complained.

"What?" Lightning turned around again. "There's nothing here, Mater."

Just then, a black car-shaped figure appeared behind Lightning for about two seconds (which made Mater gasp) and then disappeared in a flash.

Mater jumped back about a foot.

"What is it?" said the subtly annoyed McQueen.

"Uh, I-I gotta go! Go, um, fix appendicitis!!" Mater picked up a random word of excuse and quickly ran through the fire exit with a revving blood (oil?) pressure.


	2. GCLEF 24

Meanwhile in a large grey building in Chicago, four cars were parked facing each other in a secret professional meeting room (well it's not much of a secret now is it?).

As the last set of blinds were closed and the room was brought into darkness, the huge 1080 screen in front of them lit up and the four cars stood straight in front of their commissioner, a Nissan Fuga.

"Commissioner Randy." Three of the cars stood straight.

"Hey, Co." the Peugeot 307 to the right of the TV said.

"Gary. Be more respectful." Said the Chevy Impala on the other side of the table.

"Lighten up, Sheryl." Gary remarked.

"What's the mission, commissioner?" the Ford Focus RS beside Sheryl asked.

"Glad you (finally) asked, James." The commissioner said, showing them a video clip.

Gary, Sheryl and James all gasped, while Brad (the Cadillac Escalade in the back) didn't react.

The screen showed a multitude of cars running from a pair of older rusty cars. And then the water tank crashing down onto the streets making the crowd of cars slip and turn and any other stuff like that.

"Oh, no." they reacted. Brad is still exempted from reacting.

"Yes. They have escaped from prison." The commissioner said.

"No, way." Gary said under his breath.

"Way." James whispered.

"The notorious Flatts and Rascal from the group of pranksters, The Chordz have used their knowledge of trickery to escape from the Chicago state prison." Com. Randy explained.

"Yeah! Get it done!" Gary exclaimed. Making Sheryl smack him.

"Gary, because of your past membership in The Chordz, I'll let this one occurrence pass."

Rubbing the side of his head, Gary weakly said: "Okay."

"Any idea where their next target is?" James asked.

"Well, a very reliable (and currently our only one) source has given us Rascal and Flatts' next target: the town of Radiator Springs, and this car is their main target." The commissioner said.

Sheryl gasped. "It's that Piston Cup racecar, Lightning McQueen!"

"Indeed it is. Now team G-CLEF 2/4, drive to Radiator Springs and stop those two troublemakers from causing anymore, um, trouble!" the commissioner spoke quickly and immediately turned off his LCD.

"Yes, sir!" Gary, Sheryl and James said as they saluted. This time, Brad saluted as well.

Brad led the others on their way out.

As Gary and Sheryl left the room next to each other, Gary whispered: "And you thought pranksters were dumb!"

And then he got another hard smack.

…Meanwhile, the commissioner was in his personal room, thinking:

"…I should really get more sources…"


	3. Out on the Highway

Out on the highway, the four members of the GCLEF 24 drove in a straight line.

Their straight line though, moved so SLOWLY. That's what they get for going on Friday night.

Gary moaned. "I am so BORED!!" he screamed.

"Be patient!" Sheryl snapped.

"How can I be patient? We haven't moved in half-an-hour." Gary whined.

"You can't count." Sheryl remarked.

"You can't sing!" Gary commented.

"I can sing!" Sheryl objected.

"Oh, yeah? Sing now and entertain me!" Gary dared.

"You're never entertained by anything!" Sheryl said in an insult.

"Just sing!" Gary commanded.

"Fine! I'll sing _Real Gone_ if you want!" Sheryl took the challenge.

"Fine! Sing it now!" Gary screamed.

"Fine!!" Sheryl screamed higher.

"Fine!!!" Gary screamed more intensely.

"Fine!!!!" that was Sheryl.

"Fine!!!!!" that was Gary.

"FINE!" Sheryl *yawn*.

"FINE!" Gary..

"Will you two quit it?" James ranted, causing both of them to stop.

Sighing, James asked: "How long until our destination?"

Brad looked checked his portable GPS. He looked blankly at James.

"Yeah, I'm sure we all don't wanna know." James said, returning to a more comfortable position.

For a few seconds, the only things they heard were the annoying horns from the other cars around them.

"Let's do something fun…" Gary suggested quietly.

"Like what?" Sheryl answered with a question, less angry than usual (probably out of energy).

"I don't know. You choose for once." Gary whispered.

"Um, but I don't know what to do." Sheryl pondered.

Gary tittered.

Sheryl smiled at him.

"Look at those two lovebirds," James told Brad. "been going strong for three years already…" James finished mushily.

Brad rolled his Carsy eyes and kept on his determined face.

After seven minutes, the traffic moved five feet. This was truly going to take a while.


	4. Rustic

Meanwhile, late at night in Radiator Springs, Mater circled his newly polished parking lot (rustic, as he called it) in thought.

"I can't bee seein' things…" Mater sprung up a conservation by himself…oops, I meant conversation.

Mater spotted an old piece of funhouse mirror and opened his mouth.

"Ma mawth luks fane…" he spoke with his talking organ open.

Closing his mouth quickly and coincidentally bit his tongue, not crying out in pain.

"Then what the heck did I see?" he wondered gruffly.

Driving 360 around Mater spun 360 degrees to go to his mail stash which was right in front of him the whole time.

"Let's see if I got some mails today…" Mater said, shaking off the events that happened in McQueen's room.

Digging through the 4 day-old letters, Mater spotted a recent one (how did he know? Well for one, it was the only one that was still white; like I said, Mater loves his room "rustic").

Squinting with his face practically stuck to the letter, Mater said.

"Hey! Some of my old friends from pre-school!" he exclaimed.

Grabbing it under one wheel, Mater drove toward his incandescent light (which Fillmore encouraged him to change) and stopped to read his old buddies' names on the print.

"Flatts and Rascal…"


	5. We're Finally Here

Groan…

Ggggroan...

GRROAN….

Gary shifted his wheels and dragged his tired body across the asphalt and then looked up in a strain of hope.

"Please…please tell me…were there…" he lifted his eyes and saw it in front of him.

Those lights, those roads and those buildings- they were all so familiar.

"Yes!" he jumped to his tires. "We're here! We're finally here in radiator Springs!"

James looked up at Gary, who was quite a distance away from him. "What? Really? There? Now? Us?"

The higher car nodded. "Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Look!" Excitedly, Gary drove forward to the town he saw and then…

…Below, Sheryl and Brad heard a loud RRRIPP sound.

"What was that?" the two went up quickly and James was at up front. He uttered: "Need help guys, need help!"

Sheryl pounced to the scene. There was Gary staring down the edge of a 100 foot cliff, James hanging on to his tire. Gary had torn right through a Radiator Springs billboard.

"Oooh, why do you keep doing this?!" Sheryl whined, holding on to James' back tires.

"C'mon Sheryl pull! Pull!" James strained.

Meanwhile, Brad grunted a signal that he can help. He'd be happy to pull, but he was carrying all of the gadgets and he couldn't just drop them.

"Brad!" Sheryl called. "We need the Heavy-Duty Bunge Cord!"

"Hey! I'm not that heavy!" Gary said.

"You're not carrying yourself!!!" James screamed.

"I told you to lay off the Organic Fuel!" Sheryl added.

Behind them, Brad went: "Hmm…" he activated one of the unlabelled gizmos that were still in their conveniently packed form.

BOOM! Out went the All-Weather Umbrella.

"Hmm…" Brad looked for something else. He pressed another one.

POP! Brad released an oxygen tank attached to some fireworks that rocketed into the sky and went off in a huge explosion of colors.

"Grr…" a frustrated Brad pressed another one.

WHAM! It was the Really Big Book of Plants.

…Okay, nobody knows how or why that got there.

In a fit of rage, Brad slammed the nearest gadget and it activated.

JHDJEWNFURORTPWJRKEN!!!!!

That was the Completely Useless Onomatopoeic Device Version 3PN.

"AAARRRGGHHHH!!" Brad yelled and flung the devices away (activating most of them, some like the Macro Destructive Rocket Pod and the Extremely Positively Superbly-Duper Heavy Capture Net) and drove forward grabbing Sheryl and pulling them all.

"WHOA!!" the four were pulled back and them were sent tumbling down the hill…


	6. A Target

Woah-woah-woah-woah-woah!!

SLAM!

There went the GCLEF 24 as they hit the bottom of the hill.

"Well," James began, spitting out a bolt. "…there go all of our gadgets."

Gary got up. "Nah, they were all useless anyway."

Just then, one of the unopened capsules bounded down the hill and onto a pile of garbage close to them. The capsule exploded in a ray of bright, shining light and surrounded the pile of garbage, turning it into a beautiful array of lush vegetation with sturdy trees, fruit-bearing shrubs, rare flowers and even a brief "Hallelujah!" chorus before the brightness faded away.

"Yeah, except for that one." James remarked.

Sheryl turned over, saying: "Well, I think we're lost again." She then drove over to Brad (he was upside down).

"Brad, could you give us our location?" She asked him.

Grumbling, Brad tossed himself over and he showed them his LCD screen, which seemed to be damaged.

"I was always fascinated by static…" Gary said sarcastically. He received a smack from Sheryl and reacted expectantly with an "OW! What was that for?"

Quite angry, Brad closed his LCD.

Sheryl sighed. "Now how do we get to Radiator Springs?"

"I think I found our answer!" James intervened.

Everyone drove to him and saw what he pointing at.

"Route 66." Gary whispered. "We're here! We're-"

Brad shut his companion's mouth.

"I don't think we can forget what happened the last time he shouted that." Sheryl rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, James began to contact Commissioner Randy.

There was an electric whirr and a video of their commissioner began to pick up.

Then there was a brushing sound…weird, they all thought.

But as the video began to finish buffering it was all clear.

Randy was brushing his teeth.

The four looked at him awkwardly.

"Er-hem." Brad cleared his throat.

"Huh?" Randy looked into his communication device and suddenly felt embarrassed. He wiped his mouth clean and then went on to entertain his agents.

"Yes, agents?"

"We're here close to Radiator Springs already. We just need a picture of the accomplice in the town." James requested.

"Here, okay signing off." Randy ended the conversation quickly.

The four exchanged glances as the picture they needed was printed out of the communicator.

"Ah, here we are…" James moved it up so that everyone could see.

It was a tow truck, orange, and rusty, with a bucktoothed smile.

Gary grinned.

"We've got ourselves a target."


	7. Captain Obvious

The sun that rose over Radiator Springs warmed the rusty body of Mater and caused him to awake.

He opened his eyes slowly and smacked his lips. He had slept very late the previous night (at least he thinks, it was only 7 o' clock, but his clock was upside-down) and internally didn't feel very good.

Groggily, he made his way around to the back of his garage to do something…

…it was something important, but he forgot what it was and then he turned around to use the polisher on his rusty metal frame.

…

"Now just keep an eye for anything that seems dangerous, suspicious and/or unnatural." Gary told the others as they crept into the sides of the "Radiator Springs" entrance sign.

"Like you briefing us on the mission?" James commented.

Gary looked at him edgily. "I just wanted to try how it felt, kinda exciting."

Sheryl nudged Gary. "Well if you think standing around doing nothing is exciting, you'll love this." She showed them Brad's Energy-Radar Receiver.

The radar beeped madly, showing that something of great energy was very close by.

"Woah!" Gary gasped.

James squinted. "It's coming from…there…" They pointed the device into the town and directly at the certain garage of a certain car.

Then, there was an explosion.

…

Now Mater remembered what that very important thing he was supposed to remember was.

Unplug the polisher, the wires are broken and it could go up in flames.

Well, good thing it just burst into teeny bits and didn't burn anything, but now he'd have to trouble about how to explain to Ramone how his polisher broke.

…

Meanwhile, Gary played Captain Obvious. "I say we go there!" he said, gesturing right at Mater's garage.


	8. Obey the Speed Limit

James acted up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Gary, obey the speed limit and go with the flow, we aren't rushing into some criminal's lair like that."

Gary tossed the remark aside. "Awww, come on, James, I want to see some action!" Gary karate-chopped to the right. "I wanna put my fighting skills to the test!"

"You were a janitor at a cheese fermentation factory." James cut in.

"Doesn't mean I don't know a kick or two," he showed off his amazing janitorial combat with a cross jab to the right. It knocked over a trashcan that rolled down the road and went right smack into Mater's garage wall, causing the trashcan's lid to ricochet to the east, knocking out an old lady car (it was some shiny purple Volkswagen, and now it's a shiny purple Volkswagen with a dent).

Silence from the GCLEF 24. Brad slowly pushed his team behind an old dumpster.

"'Kay, bad start," Sheryl whispered. "Let's just make sure no one knew it was us-I mean, Gary who knocked that old car out."

Avoiding confrontation, Gary said: "Heeeyy, let's not forget why we're here." He said, unfolding a printed file with their commissioner's note, "Always brush your teeth after eating."

…No, the other note: "Save the cars of Radiator Springs…"

"So, we'll have to look for this rusty tow truck guy." James said, eyeing the note.

Something stirred in a distance not far from their position; the cranking of some gear, the crash of metal. Sheryl looked to the side.

"That's him!" she mouthed to Gary. The four then took a peek over the garbage container they were hidden behind.

Mater was going in and out of his garage with boxloads of junk and stuff, mostly old cables and other appliances of Ramone which he'd broken.

Taking less notice of the target himself, James saw the name over the rusty truck's garage. "Tow Mater? That must be his name…Tow." He nudged the others.

James pondered. "We should do something."

"We should." Sheryl commented.

"Yeah." Gary yawned.

"Mm-hm." Brad nodded.

Silence from the GCLEF 24.

They all turned their heads to the side of the dumpster. Someone was definitely watching them.

A little yellow Ford Fiesta-like car, probably something pimped or hybrid. He had went there to take out the trash and there were the four 'spies' huddled into a corner, now visible to the kid under broad daylight.

Gary, with his mouth hung open, deployed a utility case.

"You saw nothing!!" he shouted. And deployed a smoke bomb.


End file.
